Not sure how the most iconic vehicle now suddenly means that we'll now be getting playsets. Especially based on long term failures and continual failures of playsets at retail. About the only one that has a chance is a Death Star one, and I know they have made prototypes but outside of that...this doesn't mean the retailers are going to embrace more huge items hogging up shelf space

Not sure how the most iconic vehicle now suddenly means that we'll now be getting playsets. Especially based on long term failures and continual failures of playsets at retail. About the only one that has a chance is a Death Star one, and I know they have made prototypes but outside of that...

Who said we're getting playsets The fact that a vehicle is large enough to look like a vehicle, yet still hold a "playset" inside is good enough for me.

Especially based on long term failures and continual failures of playsets at retail.

I've heard that argument over and over, and to be honest it's getting weaker each time someone says it. Why you ask? Because all the playsets they've made so far are junk. Give us something that actually looks cool, then if it doesn't sell, this argument will have more validity. Until then what you're basing history off of is mostly pieces of plastic .

About the only one that has a chance is a Death Star one, and I know they have made prototypes but outside of that...this doesn't mean the retailers are going to embrace more huge items hogging up shelf space

First, regarding the huge items taking up shelf space, have you been to TRU lately? Have you seen the MR lightsabers? Or all the other huge items they carry?

And how do you know that the Death Star is the only one that would have a chance? I'd say that's the "first" playset that has a chance, but if it were to do well then we might see more (Star Destroyer, Cantina, etc.).

No offense, but if we all have a pessimistic attitude about playsets, it's going to look more and more to Hasbro like people don't want them. And if that's Hasbro's perception, there's no way it's going to happen.

I'd much rather embrace the possibility of something most every Star Wars fan want so see made than have a piss on it attitude. We all should.

No offense, but if we all have a pessimistic attitude about playsets, it's going to look more and more to Hasbro like people don't want them. And if that's Hasbro's perception, there's no way it's going to happen.

I'd much rather embrace the possibility of something most every Star Wars fan want so see made than have a piss on it attitude. We all should.

"Lady, people aren't chocolates. D'you know what they are mostly? Bastards. Bastard-coated bastards with bastard filling. But I don't find them half as annoying as I find naive bobble-headed optimists who walk around vomiting sunshine." - Perry Cox, MD

« Last Edit: April 11, 2008, 12:44 AM by Matt »

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"The good news is that all that blood is actually ketchup. The bad news, however, is that all that ketchup is actually blood."

You may not want to admit it, but there's a valid comparison. You said yourself that this is in a way, a playset. And let's not forget that we're not talking about another $40 or $50 toy here, this is something immense.

What's the valid comparison I "have to admit to" here? That high-priced items equate a likelihood we'll get playsets? There's absolutely no logic backing that up other than wishful thinking. A $150 Millenium Falcon is still a $150 Starship... It's a $150 STarship that was a focal point of no less than three movies. A starship that has tons of action inside it, tons of action outside it, tons of flying and dogfighting scenes, and tons of harrowing escapes. At the end of the day, instead of a cockpit that holds one figure, it's got a cargo hold that can hold a dozen figures, but it's still just a ship... The only thing remotely "playset like" about it is that it has a spacious interior, but so does the AT-AT... And the AT-TE as well. I'd label neither a "playset" though, other than you can get inside them with kid hands and "play". Had they done just the engineering section of the Falcon or something, then maybe there'd be something to discuss, otherwise there's nothing.

I think what the point is that's being missed here though, is this;

The Millenium Falcon is iconic... It's a single, whole "thing", that Hasbro can put together in one package and market at little risk to themselves... They can add awesome play features like firing rockets and guns, light-up headlights, light-up engines, sound effects, lots of room for little kid hands, but not too large for them to lift it, and all the other little things that will appeal to children (and big kids) on some level. And they can say at the end of the day that this is a ship featured in three films, not some obscure off-the-wall hallway, doorway, room, crevice, nook, or whatnot... They can justify any potential risk because the ship is an icon itself, and they can get the play features in there kids will enjoy, and ultimately they're not taking much risk at all by offering this item. They've proven other big ticket items sell well because parents like to make their children happy at the holidays, and this is just a Star Wars example of the same.

On top of that, it's as low-risk as it gets for a Star Wars item... The only real risk is having it out alongside a Prequal Trilogy vehicle featured in a brand new cartoon. I think that variable is still up in the air.

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We're both pretty stubborn about this, but I'm pretty surprised that you don't think the fans are floored Jesse. Read the Falcon thread... other forums, the GH blog, etc.

I think you're not quite understanding the point... Are fans floored that this even happened? If they are, they haven't kept up with anything in the news then. Hasbro's said multiple times they're interested in redoing the Falcon. They didn't say how, or when, but they've said it's a ship they wanted to revisit... Are people floored by the quality? That may be... But the $150 pricepoint isn't "news" since we broke the DPCI number for the Falcon here some months ago actually before Toy Fair even. We knew if indeed this Falcon was coming, it was $150... With a 2 foot AT-TE on the table, one could guess the Falcon was going to be special just like Galactic Hunter's photos showed... To me though, there's no surprise here or shock. Maybe some shock at just how cool it is, but not that it was coming.

It didn't take a clairvoyant to predict this thing was on the table though... The writing was on the wall for some time. Nobody's doubting it's awesome and the pictures from GH were great... But were there that many people who didn't see something good coming?

Not sure how the most iconic vehicle now suddenly means that we'll now be getting playsets.

Don't recall anyone saying it does? Only that Hasbro is clearly looking at larger scaled items now, and if this and the AT-TE do well enough, they might look at further options.

Didn't you imply it here:

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I can already hear the seething rage from some people that a big item/vehicle/playset discussion is starting... oh wait, ARE getting some of this now, just as the faithful have been predicting.

I'm sure we're going to have to wait and see how sales are on these, but it shows that Hasbro finally realizes there is demand for larger items in the 3-3/4 line. Will we see a Sail Barge somewhere down the road? Or a new attitude towards playsets? We can certainly hope so.

I don't recall a group saying Hasbro would never do this or that large vehicle... Playsets, people have only cited Hasbro's own responses on the matter that they aren't/can't/don't want to do them. Vehicles though... No. And you did lump large vehicles and playsets together twice in this reply earlier in the thread... You were equating them as one in the same, or at the very least "related" by price or size or something, when in fact they are not related at all. And like I said... Nobody "predicted" this... The Falcon was on Hasbro's radar, admitted by themselves, because it's such an iconic ship. And then our DPCI news broke that this was being considered, and then some rumors to follow that up, and all culminating this past week with the pictures Galactic Hunter got...

I've heard that argument over and over, and to be honest it's getting weaker each time someone says it. Why you ask? Because all the playsets they've made so far are junk. Give us something that actually looks cool, then if it doesn't sell, this argument will have more validity. Until then what you're basing history off of is mostly pieces of plastic

That's just it though... You think they're crap playsets. Ask Hasbro if they think the Bespin Freeze Champer was "crap", or if the Episode 3 Mustar playset was "crap". Bet you get a difference of opinion on "crap". Your definition of "crap" is Hasbro's definition of what needs to be done to move that expensive hunk of plastic to people other than the handful of collectors who say they want playsets, but only want them on their terms.

That's all there is to it... It's not a piss on it attitude, it's looking at what we've been told in the dialogue with Hasbro and realistically digesting it. They're looking at options available to get playsets out to the public, but I think the phrase, "You can't please all of the people, all of the time.", comes to mind. Something about the playset won't make someone happy, and ultimately it may not make enough people happy to justify the risk, so Hasbro just doesn't take the risk...

There isn't a conspiracy against playsets, as I think everyone in here would love a hyper-accurate playset of the Death Star with decent size to it, and less "kid features" than previous playsets. It's not that anyone's wishing we wouldn't get that, they're just assessing the evidence why we aren't getting that, and looking at it realistically. I think everyone actually hopes they throw a curve ball with a cool playset some day. I know I do anyway... And I don't think anything is impossible, but I don't look at the vehicles we're getting this year as a sign Hasbro is now interested in rethinking their stance on playsets. Vehicles sell better according to Hasbro, vehicles are more appealing to kids, vehicles offer more room for play features and action, and vehicles like the Millenium Falcon are iconic for the films while the AT-TE is a popular Prequal Trilogy design that is featured heavily in the biggest media event of 2008... It's not coincidence then that both are getting expensive all-new sculpts. The only surprise to me is that it's both in the same year and seemingly released at the same time too.

I agree with Scott, Jesse, and others. If Hasbro is going to go the big vehicle route to test the waters, they really couldn't have picked a better option with the Falcon. Its probably the best known vehicle from the entire Saga, alongside maybe the X-Wing and TIE (which both have "larger" models already), and most everyone (even non hardcore fans) know what it is. The AT-TE has been much requested by fans since AOTC, plus - as said - it looks to figure heavily in the Clone Wars, which helps even more.

Will this lead to more big ticket items? If they sell well, I'd say most definitely. Like the feature on the main page today, things like that Butterscotch pony already helped this - and I think things like the good sell through on the Imperial Shuttle and UBPs at Target helped too. I'm in the group that would love to see playsets return as well (especially the Death Star), but I'm not sure if we're quite at that point yet or not. I do think we might continue to see a trend of new, better/scaled versions of some of the OT vehicles though. Hasbro's mentioned things like the AT-ST and Snowspeeder in the past, and those might come eventually (obviously not the same size as the Falcon or AT-TE, but this direction of things). I'm with those who would love to see the Sail Barge be Hasbro's next item in this big item line, but it would definitely be a riskier one for them I'd think. It would be really cool though, and something I hope we see.

As far as playsets go, it seems like lately Hasbro has mentioned in a number of Q and A's about looking into the cardboard route (and the article today at JD mentions this as well). I wouldn't be surprised if we see something like that in the not-to-distant future. I don't know how spiffy it would be being all cardboard (and plastic would be better), but some of the smaller POTF2 ones weren't all that bad and I would certainly think it would keep costs down. We'll see. Heck, I may be in the minority, but I've always hoped they might use some of the vintage molds and "redo" some of the vintage sets (the Dagobah, Ewok Village - and of course Death Star come to mind). I mean, new ones would be better, but I wouldn't mind seeing an updated version of the smaller Dagobah set - with some new paint and upgraded "foam", similar to what they originally did with the vintage vehicle molds. Same basic mold, but it looks better.

A smaller side note, I'm with Jesse (and others) who think this might be a risk to have both the Falcon and AT-TE out at the same time. With the shelf space they would take, and the current makeup of store aisles, I can't see these sitting long (or in a large capacity), so it might really force people to choose one or the other (I might have to do this too, if I can't save up enough by then). If they had spaced them out a bit, they probably could have gotten people to buy both of them - or even multiples of the AT-TE for people with the budget for that. I really hope we get some confirmed info on this, so we all know what type of budgeting to do for later this year. And we thought the 2nd half of last year was crazy!

I think trying to compare the release of the new Millenium Falcon to the playset concept is erroneous. It's definitely two seperate concepts, and I think that while the Falcon looks awesome, has a great overall size and includes a good number of play features, it is in fact more vehicle than playset.

And I daresay that this is something that Hasbro knew that they could hit out of the park. They picked this particular battle very carefully. Because when you think of Star Wars and vehicles, I think most people would identify the Millenium Falcon before they would mention the X-Wing or TIE Fighter. We're dealing with an incredibly iconic vehicle that's part of the modern cultural lexicon. Almost anyone who's been exposed to modern movies will know the Millenium Falcon. So to release this Falcon at this time seems like a well calculated risk. I think it might have originally been intended for a 2007 release, but perhaps there was some kind of production delay that held it up.

Now do I have concerns over how the AT-TE might fare from a sales standpoint? Yes, I do. Having 2 $100+ items on the shelf at the same time is a gamble, even with one featured prominently in the new animation and the other being a cinematic icon. But given the trends of what Star Wars collectors will spend on higher end items such as offerings from Gentle Giant, Sideshow and Master Replicas, these vehicles might be decent sales performers.

But how might this translate to larger items in the future? I think the sales numbers from this year into 2009 will dictate that. I can almost assure that we'll see the Falcon and AT-TE reissued down the line so that Hasbro can attempt to maximize the investment on the tooling for these vehicles. But can this lead to other big ticket, large items? That's very uncertain. I think the list of candidates would be very short. I can rattle off The Death Star and little else at the moment. At least in terms of an iconic level of appeal.

The collector/fanboy in me would love to see the following things offered. But the likelihood of that happening? It seems somewhat slim:

The whole comparison is that they are looking at larger scaled items. If these do well, I don't think Hasbro's going to all of a sudden believe that it's time for a super duper playset, but it will show them that the market is willing to purchase the big ticket items. And if that's the case, they *might* explore further big items outside of vehicles. Is it just wishful thinking? Perhaps. But why rule it out?

Some many not see the Falcon as a risk because it's so iconic, but when you're looking at a $150 ticket item in the 3-3/4" line, Hasbro's clearly taking a risk because it hasn't been done before. If this price holds, it's triple the price of the old Falcon.

The kind of playset that many of us want aren't little $20 - $40 tiddly wink playsets (which is what Hasbro has produced, and most have been crap, but whatever). If they actually had produced something that was a nice playset and it didn't sell, then yeah, I'd say say their old philosophy is right - playsets don't sell. Have they ever said that good playsets don't sell? Not that I've seen.

We're seeing a new approach from Hasbro on vehicles. So who's to say that this is the limit of what's possible? Five years ago we NEVER would have thought they'd give us an all new Falcon - who's to say that five years from now that they won't be delivering more surprises?

The title of this thread is Big Items of the Future, not Big Vehicles of the Future. It's a conspiracy.